Hello, my name is John Gergely and I live in Royal Oak. I am a pilot for Suncor Energy and I transport people to Alberta’s great oil sands in the North (Fort McMurray). I have been flying for various aviation companies for the past 15 years. I started flying in the North where pilots generally start their careers building flight time. I have been with Suncor for 2 years and have around 10,000 flight hours.
We operate our aircraft starting at 05:00 and we are usually finished around 23:00 (11:00 pm). We are regulated by Transport Canada, and are only allowed to work so many hours due to fatigue and safety, so there are usually 3 different crews that will fly throughout the day. If I fly the early shift, I make sure I have at least a couple cups of coffee in me before I go flying. J
We check in 1 hour before our wheels-up time. In this time, the crew will get weather briefings, check out the aircraft and do our flight planning. From here, we hit the skies! Our routes change from day to day but we always end up in Fort McMurray or Suncor’s airport Firebag (North of Fort McMurray). We drop off our passengers and pick up the guys and gals that have just finished their shifts and bring them back home to Calgary or Edmonton. Our aircrafts can seat anywhere from 50-90 passengers.
After our flying is finished, we will have a quick chat with the crew (2 pilots and 2 flight attendants) and discuss our day and how everything went.
That is the typical day in the life of a Suncor pilot. It is a great job and I get to see my family every night!!
